章 30: The Duel
The chapter is dedicated to (Keith Lighthill).
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"Zula, be prepared for anything," I decide to hint to the girl about the danger of the challenge, showing my support. Luckily, I was already in her body, and if anything, I could back her up against fatal mistakes. After all, something like this might well scare her.
- What do you mean?
"Go on, you'll soon realise it yourself..."
The girl continued walking towards the training room where she was ordered to report for the skills test. My words only made Azula more wary. I could only wonder how the princess would behave when she found out who her opponent was.
Why him? Even with Zula's memory, I couldn't find the answer, nor could I find the reasons for the future fight. Perhaps my interference was to blame? After all, the girl had never been through such a test in her entire life, I know that. Had I changed the canon by my actions? Perhaps. Quite possibly. Azula is much stronger than she was before we met. She showed independence, and he got scared and decided to make sure he still had ways to control his tame monster.
A turn, a corridor, another turn and here's the final archway. The girl enters one of the palace's training halls, having sensed something amiss already at the entrance. Women's intuition is a scary thing. Upon entering the hall, she immediately ran her gaze over it.
I immediately felt her surprise. No, not even surprise, it was something much stronger than mere surprise. Azula was knocked out by the sight of her opponent. I could even hear the echoes of her mental scream of utter surprise. The princess froze in place, probably remembering one of her favourite moments in life. He had stood just the same then, majestic and dangerous, as befitted a man of his status. And afterwards, Zuko had cried and received his scar, losing any semblance of honour, but not his life. And now she has to fight him....
- Are you surprised?" came the calm voice of her opponent, who was dressed in ritual robes for fiery duels. It was a successful mental attack that only caused more fear in the girl.
- I did not expect that my opponent would be the Fire Master himself," the princess replies in the same manner to her father, who was standing on the other side of the sand-filled hall. However, behind the outward calmness lurked a veritable storm of feelings.
"Calm down. You're stronger than him and I'm with you. It's going to be okay," I mentally speak words of encouragement to her. Such a gesture on my part has an impact. She begins to calm down, mentally preparing herself for battle.
- The other fire masters have not been able to give you any trouble before. Even a dozen of these opponents won't make you put your best foot forward. You can start fighting as soon as you are ready," Ozai said smugly, who must have noticed his daughter's hesitation. Yes, despite the peculiar relationship, the father knew his daughter very well.
In response to the Fire Master's speech, Azula slowly began to enter the arena. Struggling with her inner demons.
"Don't worry. Show a decent fight. You don't have to win. He is the strongest fire mage in the entire world. He is confident in his superiority. Take advantage of his pride. Show all you can do!" - I continued to back her up with my words, lying about Ozai's strength as necessary....
Azula herself probably can't handle him, it's not even about strength, it's about emotions and psyche. However, with my help, we may well be able to finish him off. But there are witnesses, the Emperor's personal guards, his guards. And the fight itself is not just a test of skill. It's more than that. I'd rather believe Ozai wants to see how loyal his daughter is to him and how well she obeys orders. It's probably for something like that that he decided to personally go out to spar. He had never done this with his daughter before, confining himself to demonstrations of techniques.
"It's okay, it's almost a regular sparring session, if anything I'm with you," I continue to support the girl, feeling almost like I'm coaching some tough boxer.
With each step Azula was becoming more and more calm. Her confidence was growing, and as soon as she took the place of the second duelist, I felt absolute silence.
A moment. Opponents, staring at each other unflinchingly.
Tension rising.
Another moment, and two shafts of blue and bright golden flames fly towards each other.
The battle had begun.
The flames collided and disappeared into thin air. After colliding again and disappearing again. The opponents were almost equal in a direct clash of magic. Except I could see that Azula, consciously or not, was weakening her flames. A little bit, but it was weakening, so my father was able to squeeze her without much difficulty. Attack after attack she retreated, unable to block all of her father's attacks.
There was no longer any doubt. If this continued, she would lose. It was the same with opening the chakras. She couldn't admit to herself that she was afraid of something. Hurt her father? Disappoint him? Lose his love? It doesn't matter. I need to act!
"I'm with you," I express my support and begin a gradual merging with her. Our minds and feelings unite, my spiritual energy begins to resonate with her Qi, we become one, and the pattern of the battle begins to change.
We are now beginning to crowd him. Accelerated reaction allows us to see all the tricks of the opponent, and a strong body allows us to respond to them in time and use them in our favour. Even the power of flame has begun to surpass the fire of Zula's father. Using acrobatic skills along with the conquest of fire, we made his father dodge on the jet flame. However, he didn't stop counterattacking, but that was no longer a problem. Ozai clearly didn't like this kind of change in the battle pattern.
The battle continued to become even more fierce and aggressive.
Blue flames met with golden-orange fire, and after the clash, the blazing attacks disappeared into thin air. Over and over again. As soon as we got closer to the enemy, he would change his position, attacking even more ferociously. We even saw gaps in his defence and could strike a decisive blow, but to do so we would have to use lightning or even worse the sai daggers hidden in our boots. The princess had no desire to kill her father, and daggers were inappropriate in a fiery duel.
After dancing like this for about five minutes, Ozai decides to increase the pressure, beginning to use the most complex and destructive techniques of fire conquest. The first technique, however, was the fire bomb. Azula manages to defend herself against it with a flame sphere.
However, the attack didn't stop there. Fireballs flew around the hall, crashing into the sand and producing explosions. Flame blades, arcs, whips, rings and full-blown waves of fire with flame bombs smashed into the defences of their opponents, leaving their mark on the arena. Every fire mage knew how to dispel flames, but in some cases it was easier to dodge or block the attack with their fire. Azula relied more on dodging, thanks to her young and agile body she was able to do so without much trouble. Ozai, on the other hand, relied more on a simple defence with an instant counterattack and the jet propulsion of his own flames to dodge. No matter how, the Fire Master had to be one of the strongest conquerors or else the dynasty would change.
"He's letting the fire in the hall spread!" - A thought suddenly sounded in our combined minds. When we noticed the fire burning quietly in the sand, not thinking of going out at all, only growing bigger and bigger.
Ozai had more experience in conquering fire and dueling after all. It was sly and sneaky, just his style. Soon he attacked, reinforcing his attack with the flames surrounding us. If our energies hadn't resonated, that would have been the end of the fight, and Azula would have received serious burns all over her body. But because of the resonance of our energies, the protective fire sphere was able to withstand the Fire Master's strongest blow, which turned almost all the sand in the arena into glass.
All the flames went out, for a moment, blinding our gaze.
A moment. And we notice the serious look in our opponent's eyes. Ozai was tired from the long fight, drops of sweat dripping down his tense face. It was only his next move that made us freeze in place. Azula simply couldn't believe that he would decide to attack us so seriously.
The fire master began to make circular movements with his hands that began to sparkle.
Time seemed to slow down. We saw Ozai begin to subdue the lightning. This could very well kill us! Our own father will kill us! Don't panic, Zula! Evasion? We won't make it. Defence is useless. Retaliate with lightning? We both die.
The tenths of seconds slowly drained from my hands. The princess could do nothing, in complete shock. I was frantically trying to find a way out and not die at the hands of her father. If I had a sword, I could repeat Piandao's trick... right!
In less than a second and a half, the Fire Lord subdues the lightning, and the deadly arc rushes towards me. But a metre away from me, the lightning abruptly reverses direction, absorbing into the hastily thrown sai I managed to pull out of my boot.
The metal absorbs the charge, red-hot, and falls to the ground.
We are saved!
The fighting has stopped. We froze in front of each other. Ozai stared at me silently, eyes wide open, and I was in no hurry to attack, though I should have finished him off. But I still need him. Much to my regret. As for Azula, she was still in great shock and did not interfere with my body control at all, hiding in the background of our consciousness.
- This concludes our sparring. You have demonstrated skills worthy of a Fire Nation princess," Ozai praised discreetly, deciding to omit the attempt on his own daughter's life.
- I serve the Fire Master," I answered him, kneeling, now the best I could do.
- I wished to see you conquer the lightning, follow me.....
Luckily for me, I didn't have to talk to the bastard for long. We went outside. On the way to the fresh air, Azula finally came to her senses after taking control of her body from me. There was no more fight in sight, so I crawled deeper into the girl, weakening our bond but not breaking it completely. She was already holding on by good word of mouth, though. It takes effort from both of us to resonate effectively. The girl was feeling very insecure, though she hid it well. I was trying to calm her raging emotions. It was working quite well.
She left her father impressed by her perfect conquest of the lightning bolt, which took her a little less than two seconds to create. Yes, Ozai was impressed with his daughter's skills, probably wondering how the fight would have gone if they had fought to the death. Usually, rare lightning masters take five to ten seconds to create the deadliest fire magic known to the world. A result of two seconds is extremely rare. To achieve such a thing at the age of fourteen is a great achievement. However, for Azula, this was just another proof of her speciality.
"It's about time you told your father how much you want to test how the people do his will. More fanaticism in his eyes and a demonstrative respect bordering on adoration, he likes that kind of flattery," I put in my word as her father gave his daughter a meagre half-smile of praise for her progress.
- Does the Fire Lord need me in the capital...? - Cautiously the girl began to probe the ground for the question we needed.
For the next five minutes, Azula displayed great skills in diplomacy and command of words. Finding out her father's mood, she drove verbal circles around the desired topic, discussing the current politics of their nation. The fire master responded to his daughter with restraint, even a certain wariness. During their conversation he manages to change into his customary Fire Lord robes. Ozai was in no hurry to chase his daughter away, which already gave hope for the best possible outcome. She continued talking all the way to Ozai's office, speaking to him almost all the way to the threshold.
- Father, I wish to travel to the cities and colonies of our country to see for myself how the people are following your will," Azula finally offers, almost just before the door when they are so comfortably alone.
- I will consider your offer, we will talk about it tomorrow morning, you may be free to go," the fire lord replies with a stingy smile on his face, after a little thought.
- Thank you," Azula bowed and said goodbye to her father, heading to her chambers.
I was unaware of what Ozai was thinking while doing what he did both after and during his conversation with his daughter. This evening I would have to correct such an assumption. Surely his daughter's increased powers must have made him feel fearful. We can only hope that Zula and I have shown enough loyalty to assuage his paranoia. And he was paranoid, I knew that for a fact.
Meanwhile, the princess reached her chambers with mixed feelings. I tried not to pester her, realising that she needed to think things over in silence. I was experiencing some of the same emotions myself. Now, she was more confused than ever and couldn't think straight because of her emotions. Zula's father wasn't around, so I loosened my grip, finally going inside Azula, no longer filtering her feelings. She could handle herself from here on out, her self-control was excellent.
Once inside her own room, her gaze is immediately drawn to a few maids who were cleaning the room. Due to the unexpected duel with father, both of us had forgotten about such a small matter.
- Mistress? What can we do for you? - Azula was approached by the first woman who saw her.
- Aren't you done with the cleaning yet? - The princess inquired, looking round the room and the three maids who had stopped cleaning and bowed to her.
- I apologise, Madam, we will work faster," the maid's voice trembled slightly, it was clear to see how worried she was getting.
- Take your time. Do everything perfectly, I'll wait," all the servants' eyes widened involuntarily, one of them even opened her mouth. The reaction of the maids made Azula arched her eyebrow in surprise.
- Whatever you say, Mistress.
With a thoughtful glance at the servants, the princess leaves her own chambers, heading in a direction she knows only to herself.
What's wrong with her? What's in that girl's head?
"Whoa, what's wrong with you? Were you just being polite to the servants? That's unusual..." - I forwarded a mental message to her while being impressed by the princess' actions.
Azula continued walking down the corridors of the palace. Her feet led her to one of the palace's many secret places. Already there, in secret corridors that few people knew about, she decided to sit down and do nothing. She wrapped her arms around her knees and almost curled up in a ball in the darkness, her whole body trembling. The withdrawal from the experience seemed to have reached her mind after all. I'd stopped suppressing her emotions almost as soon as I'd finished talking to her father. So what do you do at times like this?
"Decided to breathe the dusty air of the secret corridors?" - I ask her, tuning into her feelings for a better understanding.
- ...
What strange feelings the girl has. Such a storm, like a real storm, it's good that it reaches me in an extremely weakened state. It seems, or no, it doesn't seem, tears have actually started to flow down her face. Something has to be done, she could be hysterical.
"You know if you stay like this I won't be able to help you," I continue trying to get a dialogue going.
- He attacked me with lightning..." the girl replied in an emotionless voice.
"Oh! Are you finally starting to realise what kind of man your father is? Yes, he really could have killed you today, but it didn't happen. Let me step out, it's uncomfortable talking to you while inside you," whereupon I calmly leave the girl. Having navigated perfectly in the pitch darkness, I sit down opposite her.
- You saved my life... - she continues to stare through the darkness of the corridors, reacting strangely. I've never been good at comforting, and it doesn't really seem like she needs it.
- Come on, Zola, don't cry. Your firm arse was a sin not to save. Your death would be a loss to all mankind," I tell her what I think. With the right upbringing, she could have been much better than what she'd grown up under Ozai.
- Ha..." she chuckles. - Thank you for that, Yoaru.
- If I had a body, I would hug you, try to comfort you, do many other interesting things with you, but I don't have a body. All I have to say is, it's going to be okay, I'm still with you. Together, we'll get through all the difficulties.
- Thank you... Thank you for everything.
We talked alone for a long time more, hidden by the darkness of the secret corridors, before returning to the princess' chambers.
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